Maharashtra: Father kills 6-year-old daughter to contest Panchayat election

According to the police, they first considered giving Prachi up for adoption, but dropped the plan since it would not have solved the problem, she would still have been officially recorded as his child in the birth certificate.

A 28-year-old man from Maharashtra allegedly murdered one of his three children to bypass the state's two-child norm and become eligible to contest the upcoming Gram Panchayat elections (for the post of sarpanch).

The accused identified as Pandurang Kondmangale, a resident of  Kerur village in Mukhed taluka of Nanded district, took his six-year-old daughter to neighbouring Telangana's Nizamabad district, and pushed her into the Nizamsagar canal, attempting to stage it as an accident or drowning, ANI reported. 

Nizamabad Police on Monday reported about the arrest of Pandurang and village sarpanch Ganesh Ramachandra Shinde.

Nizamabad Police Commissioner P Sai Chaitanya said that a young girl’s body was recovered from the Nizam Sagar canal in Yedapally a few days ago. Subsequent investigation revealed her identity as Prachi, a resident of Kerur village in the neighbouring Nanded district of Maharashtra. 

The police detained her father for questioning, during which he attempted to mislead investigators by claiming that the child was receiving treatment at a health centre. However, after sustained interrogation, he confessed to killing her.

 Pandurang, who earns his livelihood as a barber in his village, was keen on contesting the upcoming Panchayat elections. However, he was barred under Maharashtra’s two-child norm for local body candidates, as he had three children, a three-year-old son and twin daughters aged six.

In an attempt to bypass this restriction, he turned to his friend Ganesh Shinde, the serving sarpanch of the village. The two allegedly conspired to do away with one of his children, Prachi, the elder of the twin girls.

According to the police, they first considered giving Prachi up for adoption, but dropped the plan since it would not have solved the problem, she would still have been officially recorded as his child in the birth certificate.

As per the NDTV report, Pandurang also considered abandoning the child but feared the repercussions if she were to return. Eventually, the two allegedly decided to kill her and stage the crime as an accident.

Since Nizamabad district is just a few kilometres from his village, Pandurang took Prachi on a motorcycle to the Nizam Sagar canal and pushed her into the water before fleeing the scene. Farmers working in nearby fields heard a splash and rushed to the canal, where they found the girl’s body floating. They immediately informed the police, who began an investigation.

Photographs of the girl were widely circulated on social media. A resident of a village in Maharashtra later recognised Prachi after seeing her photo as the display picture on a WhatsApp account belonging to a police officer.

Following this lead, a police team visited the village and conducted further inquiries, which resulted in the arrest of Pandurang and the village sarpanch.